


The Last Bastion of the Living

by KnightVanguard



Category: Frankenstein & Related Fandoms, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Camping, First Kiss, M/M, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Stargazing, attempts at flirting, general cuteness all around, they're teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 10:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20172418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightVanguard/pseuds/KnightVanguard
Summary: After a long time away, Victor and Henry finally go back to their favorite campsite. Unfortunately, Victor doesn't remember how to exist in nature anymore, but it's okay, because he has Henry to guide him.





	The Last Bastion of the Living

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This fic is part of a series of prequels to the novel length fic, Song of Myself, which is cowritten by me, WoolfsBane, and Timeandspace. 
> 
> That being said, you don't have to read it first to understand what's going on. But, if you're intrigued by these characterizations and want to read more, feel free to check it out! 
> 
> As always, I love any feedback! Comments and kudos are always very appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!!

Victor really didn’t think Henry Clerval was the kind of guy who would agree to go on a three week camping trip with him. Then again, it didn’t seem like he’d be into that kind of thing either, but here they were. When he told his friends he was going to be living in the woods, they thought he meant in a tent on the grounds with all types of dirt and bugs, but that wasn’t the case at all. Victor shuddered just to think of it. No, his dad had rented them a small cabin on a riverbank and lakeside with nice things like beds and sheets, but no cell coverage. Bastion. Oh the memories from when he was little. It really had been a long time and he hadn’t really done much outside in forever. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t really want to be doing the whole nature thing, but it was a chance to spend some time alone with Henry, so he’d take it and run. 

“I swear to god, if I find another spider in the bathroom I’m burning this house to the ground,” Victor said, clutching a rolled up magazine in his hands like a baseball bat.

“Come on, he’s not doing anything-” Henry tried to reason.

“To the fucking ground!” his eyes looked manic as they darted around the room.

Henry sighed and placed his journal on the side table. “Okay, I’ll deal with it,” he got up and walked toward the bathroom until Victor raised the magazine to his chest to stop him. “Seriously Victor, you’re such a drama queen.”

“I can’t expose you to that type of horror,” Victor said, staring straight at the door.

“I think I might just be able to survive,” Henry said as he bat the magazine out of the way. He rolled his eyes, but he smiled too. Better to have Victor freaking out about spiders than other things.

As far as he could tell, there was not a single living thing in the bathroom. He checked the walls and all the corners. He checked the sink and he shower, making sure he looked through all their toiletries. He checked the walls again. “Okay man, I’m really not seeing anything,”

“In the cabinet,” Victor called, not daring to get any closer to the bathroom.

“In the cabinet? You’ve got to be kidding me. We don’t even use the cabinet. Were you looking for them?” Henry huffed. Sure enough, there was the tiniest spider Henry had ever seen. It was lime green and had a little star crown of orange around its tiny head. He was actually pretty cute. Henry urged it on his hand and brought it outside to show Victor. 

“I simply cannot exist in the same room as a spider. It simply cannot be done,” Victor paced back and forth. Henry unfurled his hand to show him his new friend.

“I’ve decided to name him Ferdinand and I love him,” Henry said with a nod of his head.

“Put him back. Put him back. Put him back,” Victor’s voice rose with each repetition. “I...oh my god… it has too many eyes, Henry. It has way too many fucking eyes.”

“Jeez, I’ll put it outside. Promise you won’t start the nuclear apocalypse in the time it takes me to get from here to the door,” Henry smiled and laughed.

As he was setting in on a bush, Henry could hear Victor shriek from the cabin, “Oh my god, you were touching it!”

“Please,” Henry called back to the cabin. “I swear it won’t hurt you from all the way over here. Just, come over here and walk with me.”

Victor scuttled out of the cabin and over to Henry. He seemed horrified that things like the breeze and sunlight were allowed to touch his skin. He looked like some trendy, new age vampire. He held onto Henry’s elbow as they walked along the riverbed. The muddy sand squished under their feet and occasionally they had to climb around larger rocks.

“See how nice this is,” Henry said. “There’s a reason all the great poets had a ‘disappear in nature for weeks on end’ phase,” the light filtering through the tree leaves dappled his face with shadows. Victor would be lying if he said the sight didn’t inspire poetry.

“Yeah, I guess it’s okay,” he conceded. He scrunched his nose when a dragonfly got too close.

“Come on,” Henry grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the top of a tall boulder. Victor so did not have the upper body strength for this. “So, if we keep following the riverbank up here,” he pointed through the trees, “We’ll come to this pool and we can stop there to eat and swim for a bit before coming back. Sound like a plan?”

“Swim?” Victor asked.

“Yeah, you know, that thing you do when you submerge yourself in a body of water and like, splash around and have fun. Or does the great Victor Frankenstein not deign to go swimming with his friend?” he mocked with a huge grin.

“Don’t be a jackass,” Victor laughed, “I didn’t like, bring a swimsuit or anything. Do you even have food?”

“Ehh, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. As for food,” Henry pat his bag, “three months of boy scouts when I was ten has made me prepared for anything and everything.”

“Please tell me it’s not coconut energy bars and clementines,” Victor groaned. “We had eaten so many clementines.”

“Clementines are the fruits of the gods. They are practically crack cocaine for people too scared to actually try hard drugs,” Henry began to scramble down the rock face, leaving Victor to figure it out for himself.

“I thought that was mangos.” he called.

“Those too, but there’s no way I could get them to last long enough to be worth it. I swear, the moment I pick of a ripe mango it’s like ‘haha, fuck you’ and it just perishes in my hands.” How on earth could Henry make talking about fruits charming. It was absolutely criminal.

By the time Victor caught up to Henry he was breathing like just ran a marathon, but Henry was completely fine. He hummed as he walked and occasionally stopped to look at a particularly interesting plant or jot some notes in his travel journal, one of three Victor noticed he took with him on the trip. It was getting to be pretty late in the summer, so the heat quickly became overwhelming for Victor.

“You know, you can like, take your sweater off,” he said, clearly noticing that Victor was about to pass out and die.

“What?” Victor asked.

“You’re sweater? The thing that’s supposed to keep you warm? The thing for some ungodly reason you’ve decided to wear in the middle of fucking August,” Henry looked at him with his eyebrow raised.

“Oh, yeah. That. Good idea.”

Henry rolled his eyes and laughed. “Honestly Victor, sometimes you are the most idiotic smart person I’ve ever met.”

“Hey! That’s no fair,” Victor cried. “At least I don’t cry for hours when I stepped on a slug.”

“That was one time,” Henry whined, “Plus, it was so small and squishy and I couldn’t see it because it was dark. I didn’t mean to step on it and it was a tragedy so I will continue to treat it as such.”

Victor could see the little pool in the distance. He creeped up behind Henry and gave his shoulders a light shove. “Hey, I’ll race you!” and he took off sprinting down the riverbed. Despite the head start, Henry caught up to him easily.

Victor leaned against a rock as he tried to catch his breath. “You,” he breathed. “Play sports.”

“I pretend to play sports and I’m not very good at it,” Henry grinned. He sat on the mossy ground and opened his bag. “There’s a clementine for you and one apricot energy bar,”

“Ooh,” Victor crowed, “We’re being adventurous today.”

“Yeah, not too adventurous. Remember to stay hydrated.” He tossed Victor a water bottle and he completely failed to catch it.

After a few minutes eating in silence, Henry decided it was time to swim. He took off his shoes and socks and started to unbutton his shirt.

“So, what are we going to do about...you know,” Victor shifted his eyes to nowhere in particular.

“I don’t know about you, but I was planning on just swimming in my underwear,” Henry cocked his head to the side. “Unless that makes you uncomfortable. If you’re uncomfortable then we totally don’t have to.” Was he blushing? Victor thought Henry might be blushing.

“No, no. That’s totally fine.” Victor could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and he knew it wasn’t just from the sun.

Victor couldn’t look at Henry and decided to instead focus on taking his own clothes off, but that didn’t help much either. He turned to look back at Henry and he could see all of him. The freckles that adorned his cheeks also spread over his shoulder and upper chest. Henry caught his eye and waved him over.

“Alright, let’s go jump off that rock. It looks like it’ll be fun,” he said as he folded his glasses. Victor looked up. It was awfully high and they had no clue how deep the water actually was.

“Do you just...like danger?” Victor asked as he scrambled after Henry.

“Danger is my middle name,” he turned back and laughed. Without his glasses, his amber eyes caught the sun directly and shined.

“If I recall correctly,” Victor said, desperately trying not to stare straight into Henry’s eyes. “Your middle name is Lucien, which is far worse.”

“And if _I _recall correctly, your middle name is Endymion and that’s the worst of them all,” Henry finally reached the top of their rock and Victor was forced to look up to him and the muscles in his legs. Henry was by no means a muscular sixteen year old, but he looked nice and soft.

“So, what I’m going to do is I’m going to start here,” Henry crouched down into a bad sprinter’s start. Victor blushed. “I’m going to run and I’m going to jump and it might be cold, but who cares.”

“You know, you actual don’t have to if you’re nervous,” Victor said. He was uncomfortable being the voice of reason in this relationship.

“Nope. I’m gonna do it,” Henry said as he took off running. Victor crawled to the edge of the rock just in time to see Henry hit the water sending droplets everywhere. After a few seconds, he resurfaced just as Victor was starting to get worried.

“Come on! The water feels great,” Henry called. He floated on his back as he lazily paddled away from the point of impact. For a moment, Victor was completely enraptured.

“Uh...yeah… right. I’m coming,” Victor said as he readied himself.

“Just remember, if anything happens I’ll be here to save you,” he was joking, but oh, if only Henry knew.

Victor took a deep breath and took the same sprinter’s pose as Henry, except slightly worse. Okay, he would start running in three...two...one. He took off towards the edge and fought every one of his instincts in order to not stop. Once he was in the air, he completely lost control of his body and landed, rather painfully on his shoulder. He thought he could vaguely hear his name right before he hit the water.

He opened his eyes underwater and they were clouded with bits of plant matter and bubbles. It felt weird and uniquely horrifying to not be able to tell up from down. He thrashed his limbs experimentally but got nowhere until he felt Henry’s arm wrap around his chest. He gasped and sputtered once his face hit the air. Henry placed him on a flat stone that was only a few inches underwater.

“Victor? Victor, are you alright?” Henry asked, still holding onto his chest.

“Yeah...yeah I think I’ll be fine,” Victor coughed.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pressured you if you felt unsure of yourself. I promise I won’t do it again.” Worry swam in Henry’s amber eyes.

“It’s okay. It really is,” he leaned against Henry’s shoulder when he pulled himself up to sit next to him.

“It’s just, I know I can be reckless and I know it gets me into trouble, especially with…” he began to say.

“Yeah, yeah I know. But you’re so fearless and it seems like everything in your world is wild and bright. I just wish I could look at things the way you do.” Victor sighed as Henry leaned his head on top of his, just like when they were little. He startled, “Not to say that bad things don’t happen to you...because damn...”

“I know what you mean,” Henry smiled sadly against Victor’s wet hair. “It’s just that I’d rather choose joy with you and your family than fear with mine. And it doesn’t always work, but I try.”

“I think you’re brave,” Victor placed a hand on Henry’s knee, like his father did when he was trying to be comforting.

“It’s not bravery if it’s just what I’m forced to do,” Henry hung his head against his chest.

“Hey, we’ve got you. Me, my dad, Lizzie, even Ernest. We all love you and we’ve got your back. Always.” Victor smiled. Henry looked far more tired than any sixteen year old had any right to look. How long had it been? Two years? It was not nearly enough time. Victor was Henry’s best friend and he should have noticed earlier. He should have noticed.

“Hey,” Henry said, bumping into Victor’s shoulder. “It’s not all bad,”

“What do you mean?” Victor asked. It seemed like the fucking darkest nightmare he could possibly imagine.

“You’re right. I do have you. And I get to live with you and be safe. It’s enough, you know,” he splashed Victor, the clean water getting a little in his eyes. He blinked and laughed and splashed him back. Then, he saw something in the water that he knew Henry would love. He dove under the water and came back with the cutest crayfish Henry had ever seen.

“May I present to you,” Victor said in his best royal announcer voice, “Sir Percival the magnificent, master of the seven seas, herald of friendship, and bringer of joy.”

“Oh my god!” Henry’s voice rose about three octaves into something people usually reserved for a particularly small kitten. “Isn’t he just the cutest little thing to ever walk the earth.” He scratched the top of his carapace with the tip of his finger. “Who’s a wonderful crustacean. You are. Yes, you are.”

Victor stifled a laugh and gently slid the creature into his friend’s hands. “I’m glad you like him.”

“I love him!” Henry said as he let Sir Percival touch his face with his feelers. “ What were we talking about?” His nose scrunched up when he smiled.

“I don’t know. Sad things, I think,” Victor responded.

“Crayfish are much better.”

How could this boy care so much about living things? Victor always wondered. They were so temporary and fragile and they would inevitably break into nothing. How could he care? All it would do is hurt him and he knew it, too. They had spoken about it many times. And still, Victor watched, awestruck, as Henry cuddled with a crayfish.

“See,” Henry said excitedly as he held the creature up to Victor’s face. “He likes you too.”

Victor looked into it’s beady little eyes. They stared back at him and he could have sworn that he saw all the wrath contained in the entire universe. “I think he’s mad at me for taking him from his home,” he said.

“Fair point,” Henry dove back under the water and placed Sir Percivalback on the bottom of the pool. “There you go, back safe and sound,” he said before turning his gaze back to Victor. “What?” asked.

His damp hair flopped in front of his eyes and he looked beyond charming. “Uhh, nothing…” Victor stammered. “I was just thinking...ummm…it’s getting late and maybe we should get going.”

Henry looked across the sky. “It’s only 7:32. It’ll be more than an hour before it gets dark.”

There were sometimes that he forgot his best friend was actually some sort of time wizard. He would have to run some tests some day. Henry was the best, most patient test subject. “Well, yeah,” he argued. “I just didn’t want to like...get caught out, you know,” he was blushing now and Henry noticed.

“Are you afraid?” he teased before throwing his arms around Victor’s shoulders. “Have no fear. I am here to protect you.”

“From a bear? I’d love to see you try,” Victor laughed.

“Oh, my dear, dear Victor. Bears aren’t what you have to worry about. It’s racoons. Those little fuckers fear neither god nor death.” Henry laughed and his eyes sparkled in the yellowing light.

“_I_ fear neither god nor death,” he retorted.

“Therefore you must be a racoon. I’m sorry Victor, I don’t make the rules. It’s simple math,” Henry cast his eyes downward and almost looked legitimately sorry.

Victor splashed him with a small handful of water. “I am not a racoon. I’m an opossum, clearly.”

Henry laughed and splashed him back. “You’re too nice to be an opossum. Have you seen their teeth. They’re ungodly.”

“You just haven’t seen me when I’m mean,” he bore his teeth in a mock show of furiosity.

“Oh god,” Henry cried. “What ever shall I do?” he put his wrist to his forehead like some Victorian dandy. “I have been cornered by a beast.”

Henry may have been laughing but the smile dropped from Victor’s face. He tried to motion for Henry to be quiet, but he kept joking around until Victor grabbed his shoulders and held him still. “What’s wrong,” he said as he turned around. On the top of the rock face there was the tiniest black bear cub that Victor had ever seen. “Oh shit. That’s really bad,” he said.

“What do we do?” he whispered.

“We,” Henry said as he gathered himself. “We are going to grab our stuff and we’re going to walk calmly back to our campsite.” he turned a full circle and then looked back at Victor. “Have you seen a mom?”

“I don’t think so,” Victor also turned a full circle before following Henry out of the pool. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at their stuff. “Actually, I think I have.”

“Yeah, I see that now,” Henry snapped. “How attached were you to your clothes?”

“Umm, not that much,” Victor said as he stared at the adult bear. She stared at them and then at her baby which was right between them and their stuff.

“Then we’re just going to take a large arc around the bear and just leave it,” Henry said as he walked the other direction. Victor was suddenly intensely glad that he decided to keep his phone near the edge of the pool.

“Are we just going to turn our back to it or…” he asked.

“We’re just going to keep walking and it’ll be fine,” Henry kept his eyes straight forward. He wasn’t running, but he wasn’t exactly walking either.

“So, we’re not going to panic and freak out?” Victor asked.

“Do you want to panic and freak out?”

“I mean, kinda, we’re being chased by a bear,” he said, looking over his shoulder. He had kinda been joking, but sure enough, the bear was indeed following them.

“We are not being…” Henry did the same. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll lose interest. We’re not doing anything interesting,” Henry kept his eyes trained forward. “Not interesting at all.”

“We’re going to walk past civilized people in nothing but our underwear,” Victor argued.

“The bear doesn’t find that very interesting, now does it.” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “They’re basically shorts, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Henry snapped and increased his pace. Victor allowed himself, for the briefest of moments, to let his eyes wander over Henry’s body. The gently slope of his shoulders gave way to the soft skin marked with freckles. Victor wanted so badly to feel that skin beneath his fingers and draw constellations across his back with his lips and tongue.

No no no. He couldn’t think about that. Henry was his best friend and if anything disrupted that balance Victor would...well Victor would just die. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to keep Henry at his side.

Eventually, after some creative maneuvering and awkward, wide eyed stares from their neighbors, the two reached their cabin. The sky was stained the color of mulberries and wine and wisps of clouds streaked across the sky. Crickets and cicadas buzzed and screamed and the warm summer air began to cool. Victor could see Henry shivering without his clothes.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Henry stared at the sky.

“Yeah, I really think it is,” Victor stared at Henry.

“Do you want to come up to the roof with me tonight?” he asked.

“Haven’t we done enough reckless things today?” Victor teased. Of course he would go up to the roof with him.

“There’s no such thing as too many reckless acts.” Henry smiled and his amber eyes glittered in the pink light. “Get some clothes on or else you’ll get a cold. I’m reckless, not a monster.”

“Yeah, yeah, right.” Victor smiled too.

It took him awhile to shower and properly put clothes on and Henry definitely noticed, but chose not to say anything. They didn’t really tend to talk about that kind of stuff a lot. Henry just got really flustered and nervous when they did and it was beyond endearing.

“You’re sure we’re not going to fall through the roof?” he asked with Henry hanging halfway out the window, trying to find a good handhold. 

“I think we’re more in danger of the gutter breaking,” Henry muttered, “Wait, nope, there we go. The section 7 inches to the left seems strong enough.”

“And you think that I have enough arm strength to haul myself up?” Victor asked incredulously.

“That’s why I’m going up first, so my arm strength can haul you,” Henry gracefully pulled himself out the window and onto the room. A single shingle clattered to the ground, so Victor considered it a mixed success. “Ready?” Henry leaned back into the window so he was hanging upside down.

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Victor yelled and grabbed his glasses right before they slipped off his nose.

“Nice save,” Henry smiled as he helped Victor get settled on the window ledge. “Okay, one, two, three,” and Henry pulled him up without disturbing anything.

“Oh wow,” Victor said, staring in awe.

“I know, right,” Henry cast his eyes towards the dark sky. “The stars really are beautiful,”

Victor wasn’t looking at the stars. Instead, Henry’s face was silhouetted by the full moon and the light caught his eyes and made them glow. The innocent wonder in his eyes and hands filled Victor’s chest with something. Adoration? Love? It hurt a little bit.

Henry laughed and the sound twinkled as bright as the stars. “I can’t believe you’ve let me speak this long about constellations. Usually you cut in with science after like...three full seconds.”

“I...ummm...yeah...I usually...umm...do,” Victor blushed.

“Are you alright?” Henry asked innocently. “You look a little feverish.”

“I’m, ummm, fine...like, totally fine.” Victor tucked his chin against his chest. “You can keep talking if you want.”

Henry babbled on about the myth of Ganymede and Victor kept looking on in awe. Henry always gestured with his hands when he got excited and he picked a single point in the void to talk to. For a moment, his expression fell.

“I just never have, you know,” he said.

“Never have what?” Victor released the death grip he didn’t know he was holding and scootched closer to him.

Henry gave him a look, with the cock of his head. “I’ve neverkissed anyone.” he gave a half hearted laugh. “Pathetic right. I’m a whole sixteen years old.”

“Well, you could kiss me.” Victor spoke without thinking and immediately regretted it. You can’t just ask your best friend since forever to just kiss you. That just wasn’t a thing that people do. But Victor had done it and he could never undo it and he fucked up. He fucked up real bad.

“You want me to kiss you?” Henry’s eyes grew even bigger behind his thick glasses.

“I uhhh...just...if you want to it’s totally fine. It’s like...you know,” Victor stammered and pulled his jacket closer around his shoulder.

“I would.” Henry whispered. “If that’s okay. It’s totally fine if not. Like, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“It’s fine.” Victor said and he really meant it. Henry made himself smaller so he was fully eyelevel with Victor. It was weird to see since he only just became taller than him.

“What do I do?” Henry asked. His lips were half parted and the blush sat high on his cheeks.

“Just this.” Victor wrapped his arms gently around Henry’s waist and pressed their lips together. It was soft and chaste but it still made Victor’s heart sing. 


End file.
